Life Unexpected

It's been well over a month since we ran the Chicago Marathon and I still can't believe we did it!  If you would have asked me a couple of years ago if I would be willing to train and run 26.2 miles, I know I would have said a big huge NO.  It's amazing what a trip to Africa and a little peer pressure can do to a girl!  Last year, when my friend Victoria and I began to share our love for Africa, but knew that traveling back wasn't in the cards for the year, we started dreaming what we could do to make a difference from home.  We had heard that you could run marathons on behalf of World Vision, a nonprofit that we had a huge respect for, but honestly, neither of us were really big runners.  The more we talked about it and prayed about it, the more we felt like God was asking us to just be courageous and run.  After talking Nate (my husband), and our friend Chumpy into doing it with us (also not runners), we set a goal of raising $5000 for clean water and b...

It's been almost two months since I posted an entry on my blog which I am pretty sure is one of the golden rules of "what not to do" as a blogger.  My excuse...training for a Marathon was way more difficult than I could have ever imagined.   Last January, I made a bold decision to run the Chicago Marathon.  I am not really sure what I was thinking.  At first it sounded like a really great decision.  Earlier that year, I had been challenged by a member of my Youth Ministry Cohort to run a Marathon.    That same month I had the opportunity to travel with World Vision, an organization that fights against injustice and poverty, to Mozambique, Africa to look at some clean water projects.  When I found out that you could run with Team World Vision at certain marathons, and raise money for clean water, it sounded like the perfect thing.  I began talking with a few of my friends, one who has a huge heart for Africa, and in January 2015, we made the...

Yesterday, I had "Mommy Vision" that came out like a stealth bomber.  We had decided to meet up with one of my best friends, Jenny, and her family at the park for lunch.  We figured there was a ton of space to play, run, and roam and we could just catch up on life.  Jenny, who had just had twins, was rocking them in the double stroller and we were deep in conversation as our husbands were manning the other three kids on the playground.  I had just noticed this HUGE...I am talking HUGE...swan creeping behind the trashcan about 50 feet away from us.  I turned to Jenny and said, "Oh my word!  Check out that swan.  It's HUGE!"  She turned and looked, agreed at its bigness, and we went back to our deep conversation. Then all of a sudden, out of my peripheal vision, I noticed Biruk, my very fast (he comes from the region of marathon runners in Ethiopia...he...is...fast...) toddler, sprinting towards the swan.  Side note:  I have heard th...

When I signed up to run the Chicago Marathon, I knew it was going to be a challenge.  While I was a runner in high school and have completed one half marathon, there is something overwhelming about signing up for a race in which you choose to run 26.2 miles.  I knew it would take a lot of time to put in the runs, a lot of mental energy to complete the really long runs, and a whole lot of willpower to not quit halfway through.  What I didn't know was that I would have a setback at the halfway point of training. A couple of weeks ago, I came home from coaching volleyball and noticed a pain in my lower leg.  At first I thought maybe it was shin splints (I had some great experiences with those in my high school track career), but when the pain seemed to persist in one area, I thought it would be a good idea to go to a sports doctor to make sure I hadn't suffered a fracture.  The good news was that I hadn't.  The bad news...I had a pulled muscle that runs tig...

When I was in my first year of Seminary, I got my first volleyball coaching job.  I was a barista at the local Starbucks in the community and quickly came to know the Athletic Director at the private school right down the street.  Within a few months of working, he found out I was a volleyball player and offered me a coaching job.  Although I felt inadequate...story of my life...I took the job, and it wound up being an amazing experience.  I not only had the chance to teach girls how to play volleyball, but I was given the privilege of speaking into their life in ways I wouldn't have imagined.  That job was the start to my love for coaching. When we moved to Maryland, I was quickly given another opportunity to coach, this time as a volunteer at a local high school.  A couple of years later, a friend invited me to be the assistant coach at another high school.  I took the position and wound up coaching at that school for 8 seasons with a coach who b...

Almost a year ago, I finished a Women in Youth Ministry Cohort that had a significant impact on my life.  It stretched and challenged me in ways that have changed me personally as well as how I approach ministry (you can read more about my experience here  10 Months...One Defining Chapter ).  To be honest, when I was surrounded by a group of women youth pastors who were asking hard questions AND holding me accountable on a monthly basis, I was somewhat forced (not in a bad way) to face the very things that scared me.  As a result, I have said yes to A LOT of things I didn't ever think I would say yes to, I have taken risks that typically would have been squelched by my fears, and I am learning (still in process) that the things that take us so far out of comfort zone are the very same things that draw us into this deep dependency on God that we could have never imagined.   That dependency is real in my life right now, because...I am training for a marathon! ...

I still remember seeing Nate for the first time.  There was something about him that was over the top charming.  He liked my best friend, but it didn't matter.  I liked him more than she did!  And so for two months I chased him down.  I told him every day how much I liked him, we did life together as best friends would do, and I waited for him to figure out what I had been hoping and praying for...that he would one day like me too.  We were only Freshman in college, I never had a real boyfriend, and I had no idea what falling in love would look like.  October 17th, 1997, I gave him an ultimatum in the back stairwell of Eastern Nazarene College.  I was tired of waiting.  He had to make a choice.  Was he in or was he out?  Would he be my first real boyfriend or not?  And then he kissed me... I can't believe that we have known each other for half of our lives and today have been officially married for 14 years.  It blo...